Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke
Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke (4 December 1811 - 27th of July 1892) was a British politician and an amateur English poet. Life Lowe was born at Bingham, Nottinghamshire, where his father was the rector. He was educated at Winchester and University College, Oxford, where he took a first class in classics and a second in mathematics besides taking a leading part in the Union debates. In 1835 he won a fellowship at Magdalen, but vacated it on marrying, in 1836, Miss Georgina Orred (died 1884). He was for a few years a successful "coach" at Oxford, but in 1838 was bitterly disappointed at not being elected to the professorship of Greek at Glasgow.Sherbrooke, Robert Lowe, Viscount, Encyclopædia Britannica 1911, Volume 24. Wikiource, Web, Mar. 2, 2017. Parliamentary career in Australia In 1841 Lowe moved to London, to read for the bar, and was called to it in 1842; but his eyesight showed signs of serious Weakness, and, acting on medical advice, he determined to try his fortune in the colonies rather than in London. He went to Sydney, where he set to work in the law courts. In 1843 he was nominated by Sir George Gipps, the governor, to a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council; owing to a difference with Gipps he resigned his seat, but was elected shortly afterwards for Sydney. Lowe soon made his mark in the political world by his clever speeches, particularly on finance and education; and besides obtaining a large legal practice, he was one of the principal writers for the Atlas newspaper. Parliamentary career in England In 1850 he went back to England, in order to enter political life there. His previous university reputation and connections, combined with his colonial experience, stood him in good stead. The Times was glad to employ his ready pen, and as one of its ablest leader-writers he made his influence widely felt. In 1852 he was returned to Parliament for Kidderminster as a Liberal. In the House of Commons his acute reasoning made a considerable impression, and under successive Liberal ministries (1853—1858) he obtained official experience as secretary of the Board of Control and vice-president of the Board of Trade. In 1859 he went to the Education Office as vice-president of the Council in Lord Palmerston's ministry; there'he pursued a vigorous policy, insisting on the necessity of payment by results, and bringing in the revised code (1862), which embodied this principle and made an examination in “the three R's” the test for grants of public money. He felt then, and still more after the Reform Act of 1866, that “ we must educate our masters,"This phrase is always ascribed to Lowe, and has become history in association with him., But what he really said in his address to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution in 1867 'was that it was necessary “to induce our future masters to learn their letters." and he rather scandalized his old university friends by the stress he laid on physical science as opposed to classical studies. Considerable opposition was aroused by the new régime at the Education Office, and in 1864 Lowe was driven to resign by an adverse vote in Parliament with reference to the Way in which inspectors' reports were "edited." The result was unjust to Lowe, but a good deal of feeling had been aroused against Lingen's administration of the Education Office, and this was the outcome. Lord Palmerston's death in October 1865 was followed by the formation of the Russell-Gladstone ministry and the introduction of the Reform Bill of 1866. Lowe, a Liberal of the school of Canning and Peel, had already made known his objections to the advance of "democracy" - notably in his speech in 1865 on Sir E. Baines's Borough Franchise Bill - and he was not invited to join the new ministry. He opposed the bill in a series of brilliant speeches, which raised his reputation as an orator to its highest point and effectually caused the downfall of the government. He remained, nevertheless, a Liberal; and after the franchise question had been settled by what Lowe considered Disraeli's betrayal, and he had been elected the first member for London University, he accepted office again in the Gladstone Cabinet of 1868 as chancellor of the exchequer. Lowe was a rather cut-and-dry economist, who prided himself that during his 4 years of office he took 12 millions off taxation; but later opinion has hardly accepted his removal of the shilling registration duty on corn (1869) as good statesmanship, and his failures are remembered rather than his successes. His proposed tax of a halfpenny a box on lucifer matches in 1871 (for which he suggested the epigram ex lure lucellnm, "out of light a little profit") roused a storm of opposition, and had to be dropped. In 1873 he was transferred to the Home Office, but in 1874 the government resigned. Last years Bobby Lowe, as he was popularly known, was one of the most remarkable personalities of his day, with his tall, striking figure, albino complexion and hair, and faculty for epigram and irony. During the '70's the following epitaph was suggested for him by one of the wits of his day: “ Here lies poor old Robert Lowe; Where he's gone to I don't know; if to the realms of peace and love, Farewell to happiness above; If, haply, to some lower level, We can't congratulate the devil." Lowe was delighted with this, and promptly translated it into Latin: Continentur hac in fossa Humilis Roberti ossa; Si ad coelum evolabit, Pax in coelo non restabit; Sin in inferis jacebit, Diabolum ej us poenitebit.” When the Liberals returned to power in 1880 Lowe was raised to the peerage as Viscount Sherbrooke, but from 1875 till his death at Warlingham, Surrey, in 1892, his health was constantly failing, and by degrees he figured less and less in public life. He married a second time, in 1885, but left no children. Writing His last appearance before the public was as a poet in the autumn of 1884, when a thin volume entitled Poems of a Life, which was intended for private distribution only, was made public by an error.William Prideaux Courtney, "Lowe, Robert," in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Sidney Lee) Volume 34, London: Smith, Elder, 1893, 200. Wikisource, Web, Mar. 2, 2017. Recognition He was created an honorary LL.D. of Edinburgh University in 1867, and a D.C.L. of Oxford University on 22 June 1870. The freedom of the city of Glasgow was presented to him on 26 Septenber 1872. Publications Poetry *''Poems of a Life''. London: Kegan Paul, 1885. Non-fiction *''Speech ... on the revised code of the regulations of the privy council on education''. London: James Ridgway, 1862. *''Primary and Classical Education: An address delivered before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, on Friday, November 1, 1867''. Edmonston & Douglas, 1867. *''Speech ... on the occasion of his being presented with the freedom of the city of Glasgow''. Glasgow: David Robertson / London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1872. Letters *''Life and Letters'' (edited by A. Patchell Martin). London: Longmans, Green, 1893. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Robert Lowe Sherbrooke, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 2, 2017. See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"Song of the Squatter" in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895 *Lord Robert Lowe Sherbrooke at Poetry Nook ("A Horse's Epitaph") *Robert Lowe at PoemHunter (3 poems) ;Prose * ;About *Lowe, Robert in the Dictionary of National Biography *Lowe, Robert (1811-1892) in the Dictionary of Australian Biography * Original article is at: Sherbrooke, Robert Lowe, Viscount Category:1811 births Category:1892 deaths Category:Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom Category:British Secretaries of State Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs Category:UK MPs 1852–57 Category:UK MPs 1857–59 Category:UK MPs 1859–65 Category:UK MPs 1865–68 Category:UK MPs 1868–74 Category:UK MPs 1874–80 Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for university constituencies Sherbrooke Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford Category:People from Bingham, Nottinghamshire Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People with albinism Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council